These Royal Realities Are Fascinating As A Fairy Tale

November 10, 1985|By Reviewed by Moira Bailey of The Sentinel Staff

When we meet Prince Charles in Ralph Martin's Charles & Diana, he's nursing some wounds over a fizzled fling with a fiery socialite. It is the summer of 1980. Charles is 32, he's the next King of England and he's not married.

Charles doesn't know it yet, but he already has met his future bride.

The year was 1977, and he was dating Sarah Spencer, older sister of 16- year-old Diana Frances Spencer. Charles and Diana were introduced during a shooting party weekend at a family estate. The 29-year old prince thought the teen-ager ''jolly.'' Diana thought the Prince of Wales ''pretty amazing.'' That was it, until three years later.

Coincidentally, Diana showed up in the very spot along England's south coast where Charles was recovering from his broken romance. The two sailed, they laughed, and the rest is four years' worth of history.

The Prince and Princess of Wales probably have made more headlines since their 1981 wedding than most royal pairs. But much of Martin's book is devoted to pre-wedding history -- what Charles was like as a child (chubby but well- mannered), what kind of grades Diana made at school (not very good ones).

Martin traces the couple's differences and similarities through their family trees. He goes back two generations to Charles' grandparents, weaving a backdrop of royal protocol against which the future Prince of Wales will be raised.

Lady Diana, whose parents divorced when she was young, is a blueblood who nevertheless had more of a private life than her future husband. She wore jeans, worked in a kindergarten and shared a London flat with three other girls who listened to Neil Diamond and Abba records.

The historical perspective is necessary in understanding that Diana's decision to marry Charles meant a radical shift in lifestyle. Martin repeatedly refers to Diana as Cinderella, but Diana's role as a princess and future Queen of England is a weighty one.

She has had to adjust to things Charles has been doing for years -- the long ''walkabouts'' in public, the endless string of appearances, the detectives trailing her every step.

All of this detail is interesting, but most is not terribly surprising. Martin, the author of Jennie, a two-volume biography of Lady Randolph Churchill, is more interested in writing history than royal expose. Still, he manages to shatter some popular misconceptions.

You thought Diana stayed at the Queen Mum's house for more than four months before the wedding? Wrong. She stayed on the same floor of Buckingham Palace as Charles, and they practically had the floor to themselves.

You think the Royal Couple fight over the cost of Diana's clothes and her excessive spending habits? Martin writes that Charles and Di don't discuss the cost of her clothes.

You thought Charles was unhappy, a henpecked husband? Martin tells us that Prince Charles has never been happier and doesn't hesitate to say what he thinks in arguments.

''However little Diana may enjoy her royal chores, this is her life and her duty and she accepts it,'' Martin concludes. ''If she no longer regards her life as a Cinderella story, many millions of people all over the world are still fascinated by the living fairy tale.''

That fascination is evident in the deluge of press coverage of the royal visit to this country. Martin's book is not only well-timed, but also a well- researched love story. Those who got up in the middle of night to watch Charles and Di tie the knot won't be disappointed.